Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.
We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game. Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game! Feel free to share your results in the comments and feedback in this Google Form.
The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day.
After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.
The embattled former UFC heavyweight champion made an unexpected return to WWE on Sunday night at SummerSlam when he appeared at the end of the main event match between John Cena and Cody Rhodes. As Cena soaked in the adulation from his fans at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Lesnar’s music hit the speakers to the shock and surprise of those in attendance.
Lesnar eventually marched to the ring staring down Cena the entire way before jumping inside and hitting the Peacemaker star with his signature “F5” finishing move. He exited the ring and the stadium without saying a word but clearly Lesnar is officially returning to WWE for one last run with Cena, who plans to retire from professional wrestling at the end of 2025.
The return mirrored Lesnar’s another shocking appearance in WWE when he went back to the organization following his run in the UFC where he reigned as heavyweight champion. That return in in 2012 ended with Lesnar also putting Cena down with his “F5” as he made his first appearance in WWE after leaving wrestling eight years earlier.
Of course, Lesnar’s return came just weeks after UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier claimed he was banned from the promotion.
“Brock is on the banned list right now,” Cormier told Demetrious Johnsonon his podcast. “Brock got into so much trouble. You know what Brock did. I ain’t telling you on air what Brock did. Brock is in so much trouble.”
While Cormier never spoke to specifics, he was likely referencing the ongoing lawsuit by a former WWE employee named Janel Grant, who filed a blockbuster lawsuit against former owner and CEO Vince McMahon in 2024 claiming she was sexually abused and trafficked among other allegations.
In the extensive allegations, Grant claimed McMahon shared explicit photos and videos of her with Lesnar while the WWE was attempting to re-sign him to a new deal. She also alleged that McMahon later informed her that Lesnar would soon join them as their next “playmate.”
While a number of disturbing allegations were raised, Lesnar was not actually named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Now Lesnar is back in WWE for at least one more run, most likely to run it back with Cena before he calls it a career at the end of the year.
OK, the hashtag hasn’t exactly swept over social media (yet), but many fans were left confused, bewildered, and angry (fine, that last one was probably just me) at the news that UFC heavyweight Martin Budaywasn’t re-signed despite beating the highly touted Marcus Buchecha last weekend, putting together a three-fight win streak, and owning an overall UFC record of 7-1. He was even ranked, coming in at No. 12 on the official charts!
It’s unlikely that Buday’s absence makes the slightest dent in the UFC’s bottom line—especially with a slew of Contender Series contracts about to be handed out over the next few months—but it still stinks that a 33-year-old in a division in desperate need of competent athletes can be let go just like that. The UFC is supposed to be where the best fight, right? And Buday is pretty good.
Check out the best reader comments to Buday’s departure below (and let’s get this hashtag trending!) plus more reactions to the week’s biggest stories.
LEAmaryllis
I'm not gonna argue that Buday was an interesting fighter. He was boring. But it's crazy that even being ranked means nothing nowadays. What are people even fighting for?
Tomato Can
Yea I have no fucking clue what they are doing, it feels like there are barely more than a dozen guys in the entire division now. Buday isn't particularly good, but at 33 he's fairly young for the division and coming off 3 straight wins.
It seems like their entire matchmaking strategy for the HW division is to take inexperienced fighters of dubious quality and keep throwing them in with top 10 guys until one of them wins and becomes a contender. Gaziev, Parkin, Diniz, Teixeira, Kuniev, etc.
Oscar Meyer
They aren't even pretending to try and have a competitive division.
Romowasntbuiltinoneday
Crazy. Only loss to the guy that fought for the interim title, ranked, on a 3-fight win streak, and ranked 12th (might have been higher was he not cut).
He must have declined the $10k to show, $10k to win contract that Dana offered him. We know what Dana will say, "he's crazy for not accepting that offer! We gave him a lot of money!"
semantic5
Martin was never Dana's Buday!
pk76
I can't understand the UFC. You have fighters with losing records that go on 3 or even 5 fight losing streaks yet the UFC doesn't cut them. Yet other fighters just get cut after a loss or a bad performance. For example, Johnny Walker is 7-6 with 1 nc. How is he still signed? Is it just because he's a goofball? If you're an average fighter but a "character" then you last longer?
Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold took a few shots at bare-knuckle boxing, drawing a response from BKFC and combat sports fans quick to ridicule his take.
That's not fair.. people also lose teeth doing bare knuckle not just their face
SB40
People are soft Rockhold??? Well, what about him not liking Bare Knuckle after Perry knocked his teeth out for him? Perry was the much smaller guy and completely embarrassed Rockhold. Beat Rockhold so senseless that he quit. In fact, Rockhold was probably Mike Perry's easiest Bare Knuckle fight.
Rotary Fireballs
He's mad because he got his ass kicked by a much smaller savage of a human being.
JMPMMAFan
Been a while since we heard from Luke Excusehold
bukbuk42
'Bareknuckle boxing is not a fight.' Lol...
That's EXACTLY what it is.
DiazLevelTough
I love Luke. He was one of my favorites & he's a good sport, but a sore loser at the same time.
Unintentionally one of the funniest fighter ever.
All his beefs & squabbles fizzle out.
His confidence, irrational.
He success, behind him.
Bodywonderful
Rockhold was unaware of what bare knuckle would be like?
Rockhold is a like diamond in the rough, dull and not too bright.
Tom said Chandler has bad fight IQ. Chandler wants to prove he has a bad IQ in general.
7thLayerOfHair
Didnt seem like Aspinall was voluntarily waiting. thats the difference.
Igl00Man
The biggest issue with Michael Chandler is that while he might have had the tools to do well in the UFC, he decides not to properly use them to his benefit. He has the power, he's explosive, he has grappling chops, but not the knowhow to use it all together properly, paired with being older.
"Didn't that big goober say this, like, three years ago?" "And then he waited as long for Jon as I did for Conor McGregor after he criticized me waiting for Conor? Cool."
The biggest differences, that bear repeating, is that nobody forced Michael Chandler to sit on the sidelines to wait for a Conor McGregor fight (that's never going to happen, let's be honest), and he could have fought a few times in that same time that he took off.
And the difference is that Tom Aspinall was the interim champion at that point. He was the interim champion from UFC 295 (November 11th, 2023) all the way until he was promoted to undisputed champion at UFC Baku's post fight press conference (June 21st of this year). There was only one fight that he deserved: a unification bout with Jon "Duck" Jones, that Jones ducked, and ended up getting stripped/vacating his belt.
Like what 7thLayerOfHair said, Aspinall's wait for a unification bout was not voluntary. Chandler's wait for McGregor was voluntary.
iamthekeyboardwarrior
Beach Muscles Mike gassed out sending that tweet. The truth hurts, he has a negative fight IQ.
LaRusso
Win or lose, Chandler fights are awesome. But Aspinall is 100% correct. What Chandler lacks in fight IQ, he makes up for with entertainment. But it is irksome to see him lose and know that he can do so much better.
Jesterscupcake
Notice that Chandler didn't deny it though. His fight IQ is among the worst in the game. I don't mind because I enjoy fun fights, but he pigeonholed himself into an action fighter when he could have been a champ.
And waiting for Conor was far sillier. Jon was holding up the heavyweight belt. It's clearly different.
Nicolas Caged
I think Chandler made a decision that for his time in the UFC, his primary goal wasn't to win fights but to entertain. He's definitely done that. But it would be nice to see him win a fight every once in a while. And the win over the ghost of Tony Ferguson doesn't count. Tony was a shell of his former shell of his former self on the shelf.
nuts!!!
Chandler wrote: "And then he waited as long for Jon as I did for Conor [McGregor] after he criticized me waiting for Conor?
One guy waited for a championship fight.
Another guy waited for a payday.
Chandler = low IQ, and not just fight IQ.
UK Watching
Mike has a thin skin & his points are child like.
Tom was the interim champ , his next fight was for the title after sitting out one round to let Stipe take a nap.
Mike was not the interim champ, he was not the champ, he has a losing UFC record & he was Conor's plaything for ~2 years.
The key point about his low (fight) IQ he did not answer.
MoodCrusher
Aspinall didn't slam no one, his criticism was actually a very good piece of advice for Chandler to optimize his next performances. And feeling the need to counter, Chandler made a comparison that never been put up there by Aspinall.
The UFC’s attempt to change up the glove game went horribly awry and according to Khalil Rountree, it was for a mundane reason.
Shock Wave
For a Billion dollar company, they sure are cheap when it comes to necessary materials.
Test the gloves in gyms, for real world dynamics.
Or is this type of thinking too far outside the box for Dana?
Saku'sMissingEar
This actually makes a lot of sense, as boring as it is. Business is like that.
Reminds me, i heard from people who own original pride fc gloves and modern reproductions. They say they are absolutely identical, but the leather of the originals feels and reacts completely different. I've noticed a similar thing with my old leather jackets vs new ones from same companies.
Staglioni
Khalil Rountree waxes philosophically on leather was not in my MMA Bingo this summer.
LFA CEO Ed Soares has seen fighters from his organization get signed to the UFC for many, many years. With his and the company’s goal of getting as many fighters as possible to the big show, Soares was prepared to see another top prospect leave the company.
“Bia Mesquita,” Soares told MMA Fighting. “She’s really good. I mean, she’s the goat of jiu-jitsu, but I [had a feeling [she’d] be fighting in the UFC real soon.
“I just think, how can she not? There’s a 135-pound division, you’ve got an attractive girl with a great personality, who is tough as nails and goes out there and finishes fights. I mean, I think that checks all the boxes. ... It’s pretty cool to think that every single female bantamweight champion in the LFA has been signed by the UFC.”
Mesquita is 5-0 as a pro MMA fighter, and has signed with the UFC to face Irina Alekseeva at UFC Rio on Oct. 11. Four of Mesquita’s victories took place in LFA. In her most recent bout, the jiu-jitsu wizard capture the LFA women’s bantamweight title with a second-round TKO win over Sierra Dinwoodie at LFA 211 in June.
Jackson McVey was another one of the most recent fighters in the organization to get that life-changing phone call to sign with the UFC, making his debut in a losing effort at UFC 318.
With other fighters like Phumi Nkuta being potentially a stoppage win away from getting his opportunity, it will be just another name Soares and LFA will have to say goodbye to, which is as easy as a farewell gets in this crazy sport.
“Yeah, it is [surreal to see our fighters get signed to the UFC], but that’s what we do it for,” Soares said. “It’s really easy for these guys [in other promotions] nowadays to say, ‘Oh yeah, we’re developmental.’ Well, where were you guys back in 2012 when the RFA was the first organization that I was the president of, that we were the first organization and you could look back and look at interviews that we said, ‘We’re a developmental organization for the UFC.’ That’s what we’ve always been. That’s what we always do.
“And then people saw that it was working and then all of a sudden, it seems like people would read my interviews and they start taking things that were said because now everybody’s a developmental organization. But we were the first to do it, and we are the best to do it. And that’s not [just] statistically, that’s anything. Go to ChatGPT and put what’s the No. 1 mixed martial arts developmental organization? And I guarantee you we’re going be there. It’s not even an opinion, it’s like statistically, look at it. I mean, nobody’s done what we’ve done.
“No one is going to do what we do because we just keep getting better, and just keep pulling away from the pack. And that’s what we set out to do, which is be the No. 1 developmental organization in the world. And now I just want to smash everyone else and just keep getting better and better and better, and just push more and more and develop more talent. That’s my goal, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Malcolm Wellmaker has already made quite a name for himself in the UFC with three blistering knockouts to start his career with the promotion, including a stunning first-round finish over Kris Moutinho in his most recent outing in June.
The undefeated prospect demolished Moutinho inside three minutes to improve his overall record to 10-0 but that win also got him a lot of attention he didn’t necessarily expect. Back in 2021, Moutinho became a bit of fan favorite following a gutsy performance against Sean O’Malley where he displayed incredible toughness and a nearly impenetrable chin.
O’Malley ultimately finished the fight with a standing TKO in the third round but watching Wellmaker faceplant the same opponent already had some fans asking for that matchup against the former UFC bantamweight champion.
“To see the names that people are already comparing me to,” Wellmaker said about the potential O’Malley fight. “People are asking my opinion on Merab [Dvalishvili] and it’s incredibly flattering. I love how much I’ve inspired people with the performances that I’ve given.
“I think one of the things that makes fighting so fun, when you go out there and you give people what they want, matchups like these become a real thing that people would love to see, that people would love to tune into. I don’t know that I’ve earned a shot at somebody with such a name but it is nonetheless a huge compliment.”
As unlikely as it seems that he’ll actually land O’Malley as an opponent, Wellmaker understands why fans are interested in seeing that fight happen.
With the common opponent between them and Wellmaker becoming one of the fastest rising stars on the entire UFC roster, he appreciates that O’Malley is already on his radar.
“[Kris Moutinho] gained his notoriety from Sean O’Malley, one of the biggest names and one of the best knockout artists that the bantamweight division has seen,” Wellmaker said. “So it was only natural that my performance be compared to his.
“So to go out there and do it in two and a half minutes, 25 strikes versus over 200 [strikes for O’Malley], it’s a feather in the cap and it’s a compliment I gladly accept.”
Wellmaker acknowledges he still has work to do when it comes to getting into the rankings and working his way up the ladder against the elite fighters in the bantamweight division.
That said, he couldn’t have imagined a better start to his UFC career with three first round knockouts in a row (including his victory on The Contender Series). Those kinds of performances are not only making Wellmaker popular amongst fans but he expects that should also result in bigger and better opportunities.
“I think the course of my last three fights is perfect,” Wellmaker said. “I knock out Adam Bramhald, who is not necessarily a known guy. I get Cameron Saaiman, who’s respected and talented and at one of the highest level camps in the world. Knock him out. Then it’s like give him Kris Moutinho and see if he can knock him out. I go out there and everybody has a good time seeing it. I think people want to see me fight those household names now.”
Not much for callouts, Wellmaker isn’t necessarily pointing his finger at any one particular opponent but he plans to stay as busy as the UFC will keep him.
More than anything, Wellmaker is grateful that he actually has time to think about that now after he quit his full time job as a welder and pipefitter to fully focus on fighting.
That decision came after Wellmaker’s UFC debut earned him a $50,000 bonus, although he admits there were some people skeptical about that decision. It definitely paid off, however, because Wellmaker scored another $50,000 bonus for his latest win as well.
“There was a lot of questions about whether it was too early for me to make such a decision,” Wellmaker said about quitting his job. “Even before the fight, the media was following up with some of those questions about what it looks like and what’s the path moving forward.
“My answer was that I was betting on myself. It paid off. It really did.”
